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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 703 370 7 



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LETTER 



FROM 



aEISTER^E BUTLER 



TO 



HON. DANIEL S. RICHARDSON. 



Lowell, Feb. 3, 18G2. 

H^ON. Daniel S. Richardson : — 

My Dear Sir — I had nearly determined not to 
write or publish anything upon these most unfor- 
tunate troubles exposed by the publication of the 
correspondence upon the subject of recruitment by 
Governor Andrew. I have not yet written or pub- 
lished a word ; but your inquiries, Avhen we acci- 
dentally met in the cars, were made in that kind 
spirit and evident desire to know the truth so as to 
act upon it understandingly, that "to supply the 
ripe wants of a friend I break a custom." 

W7mt teas the origin of the difficulty ? 

I profess to you upon my honor I do not know. 
You shall have all I do know about it. On my return 
from Hatteras, about the 1st of September, it was 
said that recruiting was very dull in New England. 
Massachusetts had not furnished her quota of 
troops, although the President, through the Secre- 
tary of War, had made the most urgent call, early 
in August, for all the troops authorized by the act 
of Congress even to be sent forward by companies. 
Senator Wilson had gone home to aid the recruit- 
ment. Letters came to me saying that a portion of 
the people in New England, heretofore acting upon 
the same political ideas that I had done, would be 
largely induced to follow me and enlist for the war. 
Believing their representations; trusting that I 
could aid the Administration in which all our hopes 
must be centered as the Government of the coun- 
try, I accepted the labor and trouble of recruiting 
— which I had before declined, although the au- 
thority had been generously given me, as you will 
see by the paper which I enclose, marked A. 

I saw that Massachusetts and the other New Eng- 
land States were paying the whole expenses of re- 
cruiting, and receiving only 40 per cent, back from 
the General Government, while in the Middle and 
Western States the General Government were pay- 
ing the whole expenses of independent recruiting, 
and the troops so raised were reckoned a part of the- 
quota of those States. Now as it costs at least an 
hundred thousand dollars to raise, organize, arm, 
uniform, equip and transport a regiment to the seat 
of war, which must be paid by the State if the re- 
cruitment is done by the State authorities, it seem- 
ed just that Massachusetts, for instance, should 



share some part of the benefit of such recruitment, 
independent of the State authorities, and paid by 
the United States. 

The President, however, desiring that I should 
attempt to recruit, but wishing that there should be 
no appearance even, of Federal interference with 
the State Governments before he would approve of 
the authority given me to recruit, joined the Secre- 
tary o£ War in a telegram to the Governors of the 
several New England States to ask their assent to 
" Gen. Butler's raising in New England six regi- 
ments, to be recruited and commanded by 
himself." This was done on the 11th of Septem- 
ber, and on the 12th, favorable answers having been 
received from all of the Governors, as was sup- 
posed, |he President gave his approval on that day. 
This will explain to you why the authority given 
me, signed by the Secretary of War on the 10th, 
was approved by the President on the 12th of Sep- 
tember. See my General Order No. 2. At the 
same time, the War Department honored me by 
placing me in the charge of an expedition along 
the Eastern shore of Virginia, for the purpose of 
re-possessing ourselves of that Peninsula. This 
movement had been planned by me while at For- 
tress Monroe on the 20th of July, and though 
partly executed, was broken up by the defeat of 
Bull Run, which made it a necessity to send more 
than half of the troops, then at Fortress Monroe, to 
Washington and Baltimore. The unhappy troubles 
of Governor Andrew caused that expedition, under 
my command, to be given up, but my friend, for- 
tunately for the country, nothing was lost, because 
the same thing, some three months later, was so 
splendidly and successfully done by Gen. Dix. 

With these purposes and with this authority I 
came to New England ; was most kindly and cor- 
dially received by every Governor including Gov- 
ernor Andrew. Explained to each my purposes, 
and from the Governors of Maine, Vermont, Con- 
necticut and New Hampshire, from first to last, re- 
ceived every encouragement ; the kindest conside- 
ration and the fullest aid and cooperation in re- 
cruiting troops that I could ask. 

Having understood that Governor Sprague was 
fitting out troops from Rhode Island for General 
Burnside, and that gallant little State having done 



^ H 



,3f 



so nobly in the war, I did not call officially on the 
Governor to aid my recruitment, although he as- 
sured me personally that he would aid my enter- 
prise in any possible manner. For the patriotic 
course of these gentlemen — their prompt susten- 
ance of the General Government — a debt of grati- 
tude is due from the country, not easily to be esti- 
mated — because they did what they conceived 
their duty to the country, notwithstanding tempta- 
tions to place themselves in opposition to it, as the 
Governor of Massachusetts sent copies of parts of 
the correspondence, against the General Govern- 
ment, which he has since published, to Governors of 
New England States, to induce them to refuse me 
the privilege of raising troops, as he has done. I 
have wished that correspondence might be pub- 
lished; but, alas! my friend, I have no legislature 
to call for it, and if I had, I doubt if the " public 
interest" would be promoted by the publication, 
and I have no " private interests" to serve in this 
matter. • 

I have told you that Governor Andrew received 
me cordially, and so lie did. I nnfolded to him 
my plans, and asked for two regiments to be as- 
signed to me for the expedition to the Eastern 
shore, besides General Wilson's, which had been 
ordered to report to me by the War Department. 
He assigned me the 26th and 28th. I supposed 
them full, or nearly so, liut afterwards found that 
the 2Gth had then scarcely 300 men, and the 28th 
only existed in name and field offlccrs. 

I also asked his Excellency's aid in recruiting 
at least one other regiment and a squadron of 
mounted men. He desired I would wait a week 
before I took any steps in organizing another regi- 
ment, and to this I assented and went to Maine. 
While I was there the Governor issued his General 
Order No. 23, forbidding my recruiting, and putting 
himself in an attitude hostile to myself and enter- 
prise, which he has ever since maintained. From 
about the time of my return to this I have never 
spoken with the Governor, although I have endea- 
vored so to do for what I deemed the interests ©f 
the public service, as will be seen from the " corre- 
spondence." 

But you ask again : Mliat u-as the origin of the 
dlfficidty f Have you found out ? I have told all I 
know about it. I knew nothing of all Governor 
Andrew's correspondence with the War Depart- 
ment, and Gen. Sherman, of a prior date, till I saw 
it in print. Those letters and telegrams may, how- 
ever, have been a way the Governor has of " help- 
ing General Butler to the utmost." Perhaps you 
may derive some assistance in your inquiry after 
the origin of this difficulty by reading the corre- 
spondence (copies of which I send you) between 
the Governor's Military Secretary and my Aides- 
de-Camp. By looking at the date, Oct. 7, you will 
see that I had the acting and actual Governor of the 



Commonwealth upon me at the same time and had 
fo call in assistance. You will farther observe that 
this con-espondence brings up the '.'old sore" of the 
publication of my letter about the suppression of 
slave insurrections in Maryland, for which I am 
afraid the Governor has never forgiven me. A clue 
may possibly also be found by reading the follow- 
ing paragraph from the Governor's letter of Oct. 5 : 
" I mean to continue to do just what I have from 
the first persistently done and that is to hold with 
an iron hand and an iinsicerving purpose ALL the 
POWERS, which by the latcs pertain to me officially, 
in my oiv7i grasp." The country may be ruined, 
the families of poor soldiers may starve, but the 
" iron hand" may not be relaxed. 

But say you, cannot this matter he settled f I 
hoped so. Nay, I still hope so. I will do anything 
an honorable man may do to adjust it. I will put 
it into the hands of any committee the Hon. Senate 
of Massachusetts may select. The wives and chil- 
dren of these poor soldiers who have lieen enlisted 
by the Government, their pittance paid by the Gov- 
ernment, armed and uniformed by the Govern- 
ment, and have marched to fight the battles of the 
country, are suffering even now with cold and hun- 
ger, vainly waiting for the bounty of the State, to 
which they were taught they had a right to look. 
What would I not do to relieve them ? I will tell 
you what I have done to "settle" this matter. In 
October, finding the difficulty existing. I asked the 
Hon. Charles Sumner, as the "personal and politi- 
cal friend" of the Governor's, and representing 
Massachusetts in one branch of the Federal Gov- 
ernment, to call on his Excellency and see if the 
matter could not be adjusted, and gave \\m\ carte 
blanche on my side to act in the premises. Mr Sum- 
ner saw the Governor and reported to me that his 
mission was unsuccessful. 

Not content with this I asked another gentleman, 
a "personal and political friend" of the Governor, 
who had held as high an office as himself, to call on 
his Excellency to obtain an interview with him for 
me, and to aid in adjusting the difficulty, but he too 
was unsuccessful. What more could I do ? Tell 
me, in your wisdom, what more now can be done. 
These poor soldiers are not to blame. I may be. 
Possibly his Excellency may have misjudged; but, 
these women and children ought not to be punished 
because of my sins. Devise some means by which 
the "iron hand" maybe relaxed towai'd them, even 
if it fall with its whole crushing force upon me. 

I am no professed philanthropist. I believe in 
hanging when there is a case for it ; but neither my 
heart or hand is sufficiently "iron" to see these 
faultless people suffer if I can help them. 

It is asked again, are these troops raised by you ir- 
regulars ? 

That is a question for the Federal Government to 
decide. With it I have nothing to do. I must obey 



3 



the orders given me. I was told to raise troops. It 
"^'^ has been done. Under many discouragements and 
. disadvantages, but it has been done. If it were per- 
mitted me to reason upon the matter, I might sug- 
c*gest something in favor of their regularity. In 
_^this hour of my country's peril, I may not stand 
'^>- upon points of nice technical law, nor upon due re- 



V^ 



>flection will any true lover of the Union and Con- 



stitution. I see that a gentleman, for whom I have 
the highest possible respect, has said in his place in 
the Senate that "no lawyer would contend for the 
regularity of the proceedings." 

He may be right, and j^et as good and great as he 
have erred in their construction of Fedei-al relations 
to the State Governments. The best la^vyers of the 
South maintain the riffht of secession. Eminent 
judges have resigned their ermine on the strength 
of their opinions. Nay, more, in the war of 1812, 
the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, under the 
lead of Governor Strong, who thought his dignity 
as "Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of 
the State" had been trenched upon by the United 
States, gave an opinion by three Judges, that the 
power to determine tohen the militia of the United 
States should be called out to repel invasion or sup- 
press an insurrection against the United States, was 
solely in the Governors of the respective States, 
and not in the President of the United States, and 
further, that when the militia was called out for 
those purposes, it could be commanded by no 
United States officer save the President in person. 
Still further, John Hancock, patriot as he was, 
stood aloof three days from receiving as a guest of 
the State, George Washington, then President of 
the United States, upon the proposition that the 
Governor was the higher official of the two. I will 
take leave respectfully to suggest that no lawyer of 
this date will venture to maintain either of these 
propositions. 

So you see, my dear sir, that it is no new thing 
for Governors of Massachusetts to insist upon their 
dignity as against the United States. They have 
not heretofore taken much profit from it, and the 
State lost the repayment of her war debt of 1812 
for nearly forty years, until it was finally obtained 
in 1860 from the action of Jefi'erson Davis, Esq., 
who seems to have a singular coincidence of opin- 
ion with some Massachusetts Governors upon the 
doctrines of State Rights. 

Irregular. Will my learned and astute legal 
friend show me the legal regularity of arresting and 
shutting up traitors in Fort Warren by telegi'aph ? 
Yet the heart of the people and the exigency of the 
times will justify the act and cause to be revered 
the actor who thus faithfully serves his country. 

At the time authority was given me to raise 
troops, Massachusetts had hardly raised half her 
quota, less than 16,000 being furnished and 33,000 
being her share, although repeatedly called upon by 



the Secretary of War, as will appear by the "Cor- 
respondence" and the order of August previous. 
Had she not them "omitted," not to say "refused," 
to furnish volunteers called for by the President 
within the very words of the act of Congress, which 
empowers the President in that contingency to ac- 
cept volunteers offering their services from such 
State, and to commission the proper field, staflTand 
company officers ? 

But I will not be drawn into a discussion of the 
regularity of the proceedings of the Government of 
the United States. I will leave that to Secessionists. 
They are doing it, not with "quips and sentences 
and those paper bullets of the brain," but with bat- 
teries of cannon and the death dealing rifle ball, 
and with lilvc arguments, enforced with the bayonet, 
have my brave soldiers marched to settle all ques- 
tions of State Rights, leaving their families to the 
justice of the Commonwealth. If these troops 
thus raised are iiTcgular and unlawful, so are at 
least 100,000 others ; the brave sons of Tennessee 
who fonght at Mill Spring; of Kentucky who hold 
the Thermopylaj of the "dark and bloody ground" 
under Buel ; of Missouri where they are now hunt- 
ing the traitor Price as if a wolf. Their Governors 
have felt it a " conscientious duty" not to commis- 
sion officers for these volunteers, and they have re- 
ceived their officers by order of the President in the 
same words and figures which have commission- 
ed officers to command ^Massachusetts volunteers, 
whose Governor has omitted to give commissions 
although thrice over called upon so to do. 

But does the Government stayid by you in this re- 
cruitmetitf Do you mean to ask — Does the Govern- 
ment stand by itself f I am but an humble instru- 
ment. Authority was given, September 12, to 
"raise, organize, arm and equip." It being sup- 
posed that the order of Sept. 16 might seem to be 
in conflict, Oct. 1st, a Department of New Eng- 
land, under command ot Gen. Butler, was created 
while "recruiting his division," a New England 
Division, not while Governor Andrew was recruit- 
ing it. Oct. 2, The Paymaster General is directed 
to "pay the troops mustered by Gen. Butler a 
month's pay in advance." On the 20th of October 
I forward to Washington a copy of my General 
Order setting forth that I am recruiting, and that 
order is approved in every particular. On the 13th 
of January, these troops so recruited sail in the 
service of the country, under the orders of the 
Commander-in-Chief. On the 14th of the same 
month, an order emanates from the Headquarters 
of the Army, under the hand of the Adjutant- 
General, announcing the rank and commissions of 
the officers of my regiments in the ordinary form 
of many other such documents. Need I say ryiore 
on this topic ? 

But, why did you not accept the 28^/t Irish Regi- 
ment, which the Governor offered you ? You will 



be surprised to learn that I did accept that regi-i 
ment — and the correspoyidence relating to thai 
matter has been suppressed — although the Governor 
says he has sent to the House all the correspon- 
dence, and has sent some about the Twenty-eighth 
Regiment. 

Permit me here to say in all candor, that I do 
not think the Governor either did, or meant to do, 
so foul a wrong. I believe the suppression was 
rather the work of some "unfaithful servant" who 
copied out the papers. I wish I felt as certain of 
an opinion in regard to the non-publication of the 
telegrams to Mr Sumner and his answers. Now, 
the whole of the telegi'am to Mr Sumner is not 
published. Nor is the answer. I will send you 
copies of the letters about the '28tli Regiment, and 
also the telegi-ams in substance, and will ask j'ou 
in the same candid spirit in which I have acquitted 
His Excellency of the wrong — why has so?)ie one 
so trifled with the Lec/islattire in defiance of all just 
and honorable dealinr;? 

But to the 28tli Regiment. When the Governor 
offered me the 28th Regiment, about the 16th of 
September, I was inclined to accept it, but learned 
that it had hardly began to recruit. On my return 
from Maine, about the 24th of September, I found 
another rival Irish Regiment — the 29th — had been 
started by the Governor, and both were endeavor- 
ing to recruit- by flaming advertisements in oppo- 
sition to each other. If I accepted the 28th — I took 
part against the 29th. Seeing that neither could 
succeed, I thought it not best to mix in the quar- 
rel. Now, I had suffered some in 1855 in behalf of 
the military organizations of my Irish fellow-coun- 
trymen, at a time when I believe His Excellency 
was under the " shadow of the dark lantern," but 
it was in behalf of all Irishmen — not a part. With 
their disagreements and factions, I never will have 
anything to do. For the just rights and interests 
of the naturalized citizens I have a right to say I 
have ever been in the front rank. After trying the 
experiment of these rival regiments, till Nov. 7th — 
His Excellency finding it impossible to recruit 
them — consolidated the two regiments into the 
28th — thereby causing many heart burnings and 
bickerings. 

Adjutant General Schoulcr then called upon me 
and desired to know if I would accept that regiment 
consolidated into eight companies, fill up its ranks 
with two of my companies from Camp Chase at 
Lowell, and agree to the recommendation of Gen. 
Bullock as its Colonel. To this I assented, but in- 
formed him that I could not take this regiment as 
one of those I was raising, because it was already 
substantially officered, it would be unjust to gen- 
tlemen who were recruiting for me in expectation 
of commissions ; but, as a regiment was needed to 
go to Ship Island immediately, I would take the 
regiment and fill it up independently of all ques- 



tions which divided myself and the Governor. We 
agreed upon all details as you will see by the letter 
which I directed the Adjutant General of the De- 
partment of New England to write to General 
Schouler and his answer. But Gen. Schoulcr 
farther replied, that if I took the regiment, it must 
be as one of the six raised by myself. Upon I'e- 
flection, seeing that here might be an opportunity 
to settle the whole controversy, and that I could 
consolidate all my recruits into one other regiment 
and thus be able to have both march at once and 
be just to my officers, I caused it to be written, 
that if the Governor 'would allow me " to organize 
two regiments and select the officers with a veto 
power upon my improper selections, I would take 
the 28th as one of my six regiments." This would 
have ended the whole difficulty and the troops 
could have long since marched. 

The answer by the Governor's direction was, the 
" proposition is respectfully declined." Read the 
letters and tell me if I do not there endeavor once 
again to settle this matter. And this too before I 
had been provoked into reminding his Excellency 
of his supposed mistake in appointing a man to a 
high militaiy office who the Governor says con- 
fessed to himself " had formed a matrimonial con- 
nection (quere marriage) with a lady who eloped 
from her husband," — a crime made felony by the 
laws of Massachusetts. Why leere these letters sup- 
pressed f Pardon me, my friend, for this long inflic- 
tion, but nothing shall induce me to write anything 
more upon this unhappy, may I say, without of- 
fence, disgraceful controversy. Before many days 
I hope to be away from it in a very different sort of 
strife. But as I leave the State, haply not to return, 
pcmiit me to say a word upon the charge that in my 
recruitment and correspondence I have treated with 
contempt and insulted the State and her people. 
Never, so help me Heaven ! The Old Common- 
wealth : my home : her fiime the inheritance of my 
children : her honor the scale into which I threw 
my fortune and life last April ! No act of mine has 
ever yet wittingly tarnished her fair escutcheon, and 
whosoever says that he values her good name and 
fame more than I do, let him march with me against 
her enemies and see if he will follow her flag longer 
or further. Then, and only then, will I yield to him 
in love, honor or devotion to Massachusetts. 
Most truly your friend, 

B. F. BUTLER. 



[A] 

Maj. Gcn'l Butler is empowered to raise a brigade of not 
exceeding five tliousand men with tlic proper proportions of 
artiller.v and mounted men, and the same troops to organize 
and equip and arm, with sucli ser\iceable arms as he may 
deem tit, provided tlie expense shall not exceed the expense 
paid by the United States for like equipment and material 
for like troops, and provided the Secretary of War concurs 
in this. (Signed) A. LINCOLN. 

August 1, 18CL 



[Copy of Telegram.] 

The part of telegram not published by Governor Andrew is 

in italics.) 

Boston, Jant 14th, 1862. 
Hon. Charles Sumner— The President has my programme 
written replying to his telegram of last Saturday. My letters 
should be directly and not indirectly answered by the Presi- 
dent and Department. 

The Legislature has called on me for whole correspondence. 
I hold back lest the public interest may suffer, though my own 
interest would be promoted by publishing. Telegraph me 
what you think. (Signed) JOHN A. ANDREW. 

[Answer to above Telegram.] 

Washington, D. C, Jant 14, 1862. 
His Excellency John A. Andrew, Boston, Mass : 

Do not publish the correspondence. In our opinion tlic 
public interest will suffer if you do. Let not your private 
interest overcome your patriotism. 

(Signed) CHAKLES SUMNEK. 

HENUY WILSON. 
[This is not literally a copy, but substantially conveys the 
answer. If it does tlie Governor any injustice, let him pub- 
lish the original. He has it.] 

Correspondence of A. O. Bro'wne, Jr. 

COMJIONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Executive Depaetment, \ 
Boston, Oct. 25th, 1861.1 

Major Gen'l B. F. Butler, TJ. S. Volunteers : 

General— On October 14tn last I mailed to your address in 
this city a letter of which I beg leave now to inclose a dupli- 
cate. The original seemed to require an answer, and as I 
have received no reply to it, I am compelled to believe that 
by jome mischance of the mail it musthave been miscarried, 
although I am confident that it was properly addressed and 
deposited in the Post Office. 

To avoid the possibility of another similar mischance, I 
have requested Mr Spear, the official Messenger of the Gov- 
ernor and Council, to do me the kindness to deliver this du- 
plicate in person, and I have the honor to remain, 
Your ob't serv't, A. G. BROWNE, JK., 

Lt. Col. and Military Sec'y. 

COMMONWEALTH OF JLVSSACHUSETTS. 

ExErr-TivE Department,) 
Boston, Oct. 7, 1861. i 
To Major General Butler, U. S. Volunteers, commanding De- 
partment New England. 

General:— 1 beg leave to caU to your attention certftin pas- 
sages in your official correspondence with the Execxtive De- 
partment of Massachusetts during the months of April and 
May of the present year. 

As you were at tliat time engaged in active military ser- 
vice in the field, I then under a sense of public duty refrained 
from addressing you, but since you have been transferred to 
the Department of New England, a suitable opportunity 
seems to be aflbrded for such an explanation as I liave anx- 
iously awaited, and it is desirable that I should seek such an 
explanation in order that our present necessary intercourse 
may be conducted with a proper sense of personal respect. 

On April 25th, 1861, His Excellency the Governor addressed 
to you an official dispatch in answer to one previously re- 
ceived from you. In reply to this dispatch you, under date 
of May 10th, wrote a letter to His Excellency of whicli the 
following is an extract :— 

"I have taken the liberty to permit the publication of a dis- 
patch of April 25th, and my vindication of my action pertain- 
ing thereto. I am impelled to this because the substance of 



your dispatch to me has been given to the public from Bos- 
ton, through the columns of the Tribune with strictures upon 
my conduct. Tliis could not have been without the sanction 
of the Executive Department in some of its branches." 

Accompanying this letter was a bundle of official dis- 
patches, before the examination of which, I, under His Ex- 
cellency's direction, replied to you as follows, after quoting 
your languarge above recited. 

•'To this His Excellency directs me to reply that neither 
his dispatch to you of the date mentioned, nor any portion of 
it, nor the substance of it, has been communicated to the 
Tribune or to any other newspaper, or been examined or 
seen by any person whose official business did not neces- 
sarily make the knowledge of its contents an official duty." 

In reply thereto you, under date of May 16th, returned to 
His Excellency a letter trom which the following are ex- 
tracts :— 

"I certainly did not suppose that your Excellency commu- 
nicated any portion of your dispatch or permitted it to be 
communicated to the public through the newspapers ; but 
true it is that the contents of that dispatch were made known 
to the Boston correspondent of the Tribune by some attache- 
of the Executive Department, who had probably been permit 
ted to enjoy the dignity of copying it ; and as I most thor- 
oughly and truly believe that the publication was made with- 
out your Excellency's knowledge, consent or approval, 1 
am only sorry that it should have been made at all." 

" When such publication has been made on one part tend- 
ing to injure me, what was left to me but to make public my 
answer thereto. As I have about me only faithful gentlemen 
there is no possible way in which the contents of my de- 
spatches can steal into the newspapers withont my sending 
them, so that, if published at all, it must be with my fullest 
sanction." 

" If any portion of the matter has left the slightest trace 
upon your Excellency's mind * * it wiU be a source 
of lasting regret to me and will add another instance to that 
which has passed into a proverb, of the mischief that an 
unfaithful servant can make." 

1 beg leave to state from my personal knowledge, having 
myself had personal charge of the only copy of the despatch 
in question of date of April 25th, that between that day and 
May 10th, which is the date of your letter asserting the pub- 
lication of its substance in the Tribune with strictures upon 
your conduct, no person had access to said copy except His 
Excellency the Governor, and myself. 

Inasmuch therefore as you state your belief that the al- 
leged publication was made without His Excellency's 
knowledge, consent, or approval, your allegations apply to 
myself and are the more certainly directed against me by 
your allusions to the fact, that, the body of the despatch of 
April 25th, was forwarded to you in my handwriting. In 
reply to these allegations, I assure you that neither the de- 
spatch of April 25th, nor the copy of It, nor its "substance," 
nor any portion of its "contents," nor the fact of its exist- 
ence, was ever communicated by me to the "Boston corres- 
pondent of the Tribune," or to any other person ; and after 
careful examination my friends have been unable to discover 
that the despatch or any copy of it, or its substance, or any 
portion of its contents, was ever printed either in the Tri- 
bune or elsewhere until it was published by yourself. You 
will then I am sure perceive that it is not unreasonable to 
request you to produce the paper, or specify its date, in 
which you allege that such publication was made. Such a 
specification seems to be necessary in order to effect a com- 
plete explanation of this matter to your satisfaction as well 
as to my own. I have the honor to remain. 

Your ob't servant, 

A. G. BROWNE, Jk., 
Lieut. Colonel and Military Secretary to His Excellency the 

Governor of Massachusetts. 



Headquarteks Department of Kew England,') i 
Boston, Oct. 26, 1861. ) 

Lieut. Col. Brown— 

I am directed by Major General Butler to acknowledge the 
receipt of your communications, both original and duplicate. 
The General will give attention to the matter as soon as he 
can possess himself of the evidence to show that the censure 
of his acts therein referred to by Governor Andrew was 
made public before the 9th of May, 18G1, by some one who 
knew the fact that a despatch of that character had been 
sent General Butler. 

Respectfully your ob't servant, 
P. HAGGERTY, 

Ald-de-Camp. 

Headquarters Department of New England,) 
Boston, November 8th, 1861. | 

To A. G. Browne, Jr, Lieut. Colonel and Military Secretary 

of His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts, &c., Ac. 

Sir— I am directed by Major General Butler to enclose to 
you copies of correspondence, bearing upon the matter of 
your note to him of October 7th. 

In his communication to Govcriior Andrew of May 10th, 
General Butler said that, "the substance of His Excellency's 
dispatch of April 2.5th, disapproving the offer of Gen. Butler 
to aid Governor Hicks In suppressing a slave insurrection in 
a loyal State, had been given to the public through the col- 
umns of the Tribune with strictures upon his conduct." 

Now the substance of that dispatch was the "disapproval'' 
of His Excellency, of which General Butler trusts His Ex- 
cellency has long since repented. This disapproval was pub- 
lished in the " New York Tribune " of the 6th or 7th of May. 
Governor Andrew, both by his letter and by accepting in si- 
lence the strong belief that the "disapproval" did not see 
light through himself, expressed by General Butler in the 
dispatch to which you allude, has tacitly and efficiently de- 
clared that fact. 

You say in your note in substance that, no one beside your- 
self and His Excellency, had any knowledge that such dis- 
patch was sent before May 10th. The " Tribune " referred to 
in the note of Mr Robinson and his letter, show that the fact 
of such dispatch was known in Boston and on May 4th and 
published in New York. This state of facts seems to raise a 
question of veracity between His Excellency and liis Military 
Secretary, upon which General Butler respectfully declines 
to sit in judgment. 

General Butler accepts the disclaimer of both, but remains 
lost in admiration at the manner in wliich the correspondent 
of the " Tribune " obtained his information. 

Itespectfully, WJI. H. ■^\^EGEL, 

1st Lieut, and Aid-de-Camp. 

The two letters following were inclosed in the 
foregoing : — 

Headquarters Department of New England,) 
Boston, October 26, 1861. j" 

Dear Sir— I assume that you were the correspondent of the 
' New York Tribune" in May last. 

In that correspondence under date of 4th May fromBoston, 
In the remarks upon my offer to aid Govornor Hicks to sup- 
press a slave insurrection, you use the following language :— 
"This act of his, if countenanced by the general Govern- 
ment, (it certainly is not by Governor Andrew) is " &c. 

Will you have the kindness to inform me whetlier, at the 
time you wrote the above, you had learned from any source, 
that Governor Andrew had sent me a dispatch convejingthe 
disapproval of my acts, as is therein mentioned. 

Of course I do not ask the name of your Informant— that 
you may not wish to disclose ; I only desire to ask for the fact. 
I am very respectfully, your obedient servant, 

B. F. BUTLER. 
William 8. Robinson, Boston, Mass. 



Malden, October 28, 1861. 

My Dear General- Your note dated the 26th was received 
to-daj-. In reply to the query therein contained, 1 have to say 
that previous to the 4th of May, the date of the Boston letter 
to the Tribune from whicli you make an extract, 1 had learned 
from what I considered good authority, that Gov. Andrew 
had sent to you a dispatch or letter conveying his disapproval 
of your offer to aid Gov. Hicks in the suppression of a slave 
insurrection. Very truly yours, 

WM. S. ROBINSON. 

General Butler. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Executive Department, ) 
Boston, Nov. 20th, 1861.) 

To M.njor General Butler, U. S. Volunteers, Commanding 

Department of New England. 

General- Having been absent from Boston during the 
greater part of the past fortniglit, it was only on Saturday 
last that I was able to open and examine your letter of the 
8th inst., addressed to me over the signature of a member of 
your Staff. 

I cannot permit myself to be diverted by the tone of that 
letter, from the subject matter of the charges you have pre- 
ferred against me into any controversy concerning the style 
of language which it suits your taste to employ in corre- 
spondence. 

I beg therefore, again to remind you that under date of 
May loth, you charged that, "the substance" of Governor 
Andrew's dispatch to you of April 25th, had been given to 
the public from Boston through the columns of the Tribune 
with strictures upon (your) official conduct," and that, "this 
could not have been without tlie sanction of the Executive 
Department in some of its brandies. 

Also, that under date of May 16tli, you asserted officially 
that "the contents of that dispatch were made known to the 
Boston correspondent of the Tribune Ijy some attaclio of the 
Executive Department," meaning (as you now admit) my- 
self; and you added this expression, "When such publication 
has been made on one part tending to injure me, what was 
left to me but to make public my answer thereto?" Also,' 
that you used concerning me in the same connection, the 
expression, "unfaithful servant." 

At the first opportunitv offered tome after your return to 
Massachusetts, I took occasion to deny the truth of these 
charges and for my own vindication to request you either to 
withdrew tliem or to support them by proof. 

By your letter of tlie 8th inst., I am informed furnished as 
proof of the "publication" alleged by you, with the following 
singular sentence, which appeared in the N. Y. Tribune of 
Blay 6th, i. e.,"Tliisactof his if countenanced by the General 
Government (it certainly is not Ijy Gov. Andrew,) is Ac, Ac." 

I beg to inquire whether this is the only evidence you are 
prepared to present to sustain your cliarges that "the sub- 
stance" of Governor Andrew's despatcli to you of April 25th 
was " given to the public from Boston tlirough the columns 
of tlie Tribune, with strictures upon (your) conduct," and 
that " this could not have been without the sanction of the 
Executive Department in some of its branches," and tliat 
" such publication (was) made on our jiurt tending to injure 
(you)." 

If this is the sole evidence, I respectfully request you to 
again review the subject, and to consider impartially, wheth- 
er that parenthetical sentence can justly be called a "publi- 
cation" of Gevcrnor Andrew's despatch of April 25th, or of 
its "substance," and whether it even alludes to or is suffi- 
cient to justify an inference of the existence of any such 
despatch. 

I am further furnished by j-ou in your letter of the 8th inst. 
as proof of your charge, that I made the contents of the Gov- 
ernor's despatch known to tlie Boston correspondent of the 
N. Y. Tribune, with copies of certain letters, between that 



correspondent and yourself, under dates of Oct.2Gth and 28th 
last. 

In that correspondent's letter to you of the 2Sth ult., he 
states that previously to May 4th, he had learned tliat Gover- 
nor Andrew had sent to you a despatch or letter conveying 
his disapproval of your, &c., &c. But neither in your inqui- 
ries of that correspondent, nor in his reply, is tliere the 
slightest pretence that he obtained from myself any infor- 
mation wliich he may have possessed. On the contrary, in 
your inquiries of him, you expressly said, " I do not ask the 
name ot your informant or source of information." 

In this connection, and as a possible solution of this ques- 
tion, I venture to recall to your memory a popular rumor 
that, attached to your personal staflT, and enjoying your per- 
sonal intimacy on the expedition to Washington, were pro- 
fessional newspaper correspondents. Whether there were 
any grounds for this rumor, I am entirely ignorant ; I am 
aware only of the fact that such a rumor prevailed, inas- 
much as, at the date of May 4th, the original of the Gover- 
nor's despatcli liad been already in your possession for sev- 
eral days, and was very shortly afterwards published by you 
in the Boston Journal, and elsewliere. May you not, among 
your own surroundings, tind a possible explanation of one 
method in which its existence may have become Itnown to 
others beyond the parties whom it immediately concerned. 

In conclusion, I again respectfully suggest to you the jus- 
tice of withdrawing your charges againt me, or of support- 
ing them by proof. I am especially urgent In tliis matter, 
because to a person holding the confidential official position 
which I have the honor to occupy, suclx charges are especi- 
ally injurious. 

And although if no publication of the Governor's des- 
patches or its substance ever toolc place before it was pub- 
lished by yourself, the fact of a knowledge by the Tribune 
correspondent is of no consequence, except so far as you 
charge me with having communicated it ; yet to remove all 
..possible manner of doubt which may exist by reason of your 
correspondence with that gentleman, I enclose copies of sub- 
sequent correspondence between him and myself. 
I have the honor to remain your obedient servant, 

A. G. BROWNE, Jk., 
Lieut. Col. and Military Secretarj' to His Excellency the Gov- 
ernor of Massachusetts. 

The two following letters were inclosed in the 

foregoing : — 

[Copy.] 

COMMONWEjVLTH GF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Executive Department, \ 
Council Chamber, Boston. Nov. 17,1861.) 

William S. Kobinson, Esq. 

Dear Sir,— I have received from Major General Butler a 
copy of a letter addressed by you to him under date of Oct. 
28, in which you state that previously to May 4th last you 
had learned, from what you considered good authority, that 
Governor Andrew had sent to that officer a letter conveying 
disappi'oval of his ofler to place Massacliusetts militia at the 
disposal of Governor Hicks, of Maryland, for the suppression 
of servile insurrection. I beg to ask you whether you ac- 
quired this information in any way, directly or indirectly, 
from myself. Yours respectfully, 

A. G. BROWNE, Je.. 
Lieut. Col. and Military Sec. to the Gov. of Mass. 

[copy.] 

Boston, Novembee, 20, ISCl. 
A. G. Browne, Jr., Esq. 

My Dear Sir— In reply to your note of the 17th, it gives me 
pleasure to say that the information which I received in rela- 
tion to the letter of Governor Andrew to General Butler, to 



which reference is made in my correspondence with the lat 
ter, was not acquired directly from yourself, and I have no 
reason to suppose that it came indirectly or in any way 
whatever from yourself. 

Very truly yours, 

Wm. S. Kobinson. 

[copr.] 

Headquarters Department of New England, > 
Boston, Nov. 26, 1861. J 

A. G. Brown, Jr., Lieut. Colonel and Military Secretary to 
His Excellency the Governor of Massachusetts. 
Sir,— General Butler directs me to acknowledge the receipt 
ot Lieut. Col. Brown, s communication of the 20tli inst., and 
to say that an absence at Washington must serve as an 
excuse for delay in the answer. 

The allusion of tlie Military Secretary to the infelicities In 
the tone and style of Gen. Butler's letter of Jthe 8th inst, has 
forced upon the mind of the General the painful conviction 
that, as with the Moor, so with him, late familiarity witli 
camps has caused it, that he is rude of speech and little 
blessed with the set phrase of peace. Oppressed with this 
conviction, and at tlie risk of again giving offence to a per- 
haps fastidious taste, having complied with the request of 
Lieut. Col. Brown that he would consider tlie subject of this 
correspondence under the light afforded by the communica- 
tion of the 20th inst.. Gen. Butler hastens to lay before the 
miUtary Secretaiy the results ot that consideration. 

So considered, then, the facts present themselves to the 
mind of Gen. Butler in the following manner:— 

The Gubernatorial dispatch of April 25 was known only to 
His Excellency and Lieut. Col. Brown, Military Secretary to 
the Governor of Massachusetts. It was not made public by 
Gen. Butler prior to the pubUcation of his letter to Gov. 
Andrew, of date May 9. But prior to the 4th of May the fact 
of the dispatcli was known to tne correspondent of the New 
York Tribune at Boston, and with that knowledge fresh in 
mind, he upon that date writes to that journal a letter which 
appears in the issue of the 6th of May, in which, in speaking 
of the action of Gen. Butler, with strictures upon that action, 
he says, "this act, if countenanced by the General Govern- 
ment, (it certainly is not by Gov. Andrew) is," &c., &c. 

Lieut. Col. Brown desires to know whether, in the opinion 
ot Gen. Butler, the publication of this phrase can justly be 
called a publication of the "substance" of Gov. Andrew's 
dispatch, and Gen. Butler takes pleasure in answering the 
Military Secretary that in his judgment it can; that phrase, 
containing, as he believes, not only the "substance" of that 
dispatch, but also, if he may be allowed the expression, its 
pith and marrow, may he add, the blood thereof, which Is 
the life thereof. 

Trusting that his mmd upon this branch of the subject has 
been clearly expressed. Gen. Butler would assure Lieut. Col. 
Brown that he is still unable to account for the exposure of 
the fact of this dispatch, or of its substance, in any other 
manner than in that heretofore asserted by him. 

The delicate insinuation of the Military Secretary that It 
might have been exposed by members of General Butler's 
own staff for the time being, compels General Butler to ask 
Lieut. Col. Brown to remark the impropriety, not to say im- 
possibility, of a suspicion by General Butler, of the honor of 
gentlemen with whose character he is acquainted, at the 
suggestion of a gentleman with whose character he is unac- 
quainted, save by rumor, and to inquire, whether in the opin- 
ion of the Military Secretary, he furnishes great claims to 
additional credit, who is rapid to suggest a breach of honor 
on the part of others unknown to him, for the purpose of 
shedding lustre upon his own. 

General Butler knows that knowledge of the substance or 
any portion of that despatch did not proceed from his Head 



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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



013 703 370 7 



Qnarters or from any person connected there-nith prior tc 
May 4th. 

General Butler cautions Lieut. Col. Bro-mi that he should 
as little rely upon rumor for his facts in the instance cited as 
does General lUitler upon the same evidence to convict 
Lieut.Col. Brown of complicity with tlie death of the mur- 
dered Batchelder. 

Lieut. Col. Brown will unite with General Butler in the 
opinion that it would be an insult to the dignity of the Gov- 
ernor, to harbor for an instant the thought, that lie had made 
public the fact or substance of a private dispatch. There 
seems to be but one other source to look to. General Butler 
is aware that the statement of the Tribune coiTespondent 
meets the case of information derived directly from the Mil- 
itary Secretary, but the statement of (hat correspondent that 
he " has no reason to suppose that it came indirectly or in 
any way whatever from yourself," does not seem to him to 
cover the case. Merely negative testimony upon a subject 
matter which might easily be a fact or tlie reverse, witliout 
impugning the credit of the witness, has not the effect of con- 
viction upon the mind of General Butler. 

In conclusion. General Buller desires me to say that, judg- 
ing by the number and length of Lieut. Col. Browns letters 
upon this subject, he is induced to believe that Lieut. Col. 
Brown has not given due consideration to the great truth 
contained in tlie expression "life is short," and to sugj,'e8t 
that if his otiicial duties leave tlie Military Secretary leisure 
to expend his energies in personal communications to Gen- 
eral Butler in tlie hope to draw from him a retraction or an 
alteration of statements in the truth of which his belief is only 
the more confirmed by the arguments adduced against them, 
he. General Butler, in view of the present condition of the 
country, and his own position with reference to that country, 
has other and grander objects for contemplation and action, 
to which he must in future be allowed to apply himself with- 
out interruption from this source, upon this theme. 
KespectfuUy, WM. II. WIEGEL, 

Ist Lieut, and A. D. C. 
After this answer another letter was received 
from the Military Secretary which was returned to 
him unanswered. 

"Suppressed Lietters." 

Headquarters Department of New England,) 
Boston, Nov 11th, 1861. > 

General Wm. Schouler, Adjutant General of State of Massa- 
chusett.s : 

Sir— It will be quite satisfactory to make the arrangement 
proposed, viz : to make eight companies and to add two from 
Camp Chase as soon as they are full, with the list of offlccrs 
accompanying them to be designated liy General Butler. 
This to be upon the understanding that the 28th Regiment is 
to be a part of the expeditionary corps soon to sail, and not a 
portion of the troops to be raised by Gen'l Butler under order 
of September 10th, 1861, Gen'l Butler desiring to fill up the 
Regiment destined for this purpose as soon as possible beside 
those that he is recruiting. 

Two Regiments and two Batteries will sail In the coming 
week and Gen'l Butler desires two more ready In fifteen days 
thereafter. 

This arrangement in regard to the 28th Regiment is de- 



signed to be made wholly Indepcndentlj- of the unhappy and 
unfortunate difference of opinion which has arisen between 
his Excellency the Governor and Gen'l Butler, which he 
much regrets, upon the right of recruitment upon the part of 
the United .States Government in Massacluisetts. 

Gen'l Butler would be happy to examine the Roster as 
proposed, and the recommendations of Gen'l Bullock. 

"With Col. Jlontcith, Gen'l Butler is much pleased, lirom his 
acquaintance with him. Should the Roster not be perfectly 
satisfactory, however, Gen'l Butler would be glad to know 
whether the State will continue its equipment of the 28th. 

I am, General, very respectfully, y"r ob't serv't, 

GEO. C. STRONG, A. A. Gcnl. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

' Adjutant General's Office,) 

Boston, Nov. Utii, 18C1. S 

Maj. George C. Strong, Ass't Adj't Gen'l Department of New 

England : 

Sir— Yours of d.ite is received in relation to the 28th Regi- 
ment. The fact which I wish to ascertain is this : " Will 
General Butler accept of the "i&th Regiment?" In your let- 
ter he accepts it with the following stipulation : "On the ex- 
press understanding that the 28th Regiment is to be apart of 
the expedition corps soon to sail, and not a portion of the 
troops to be raised by General Butler under order of bept. 
10, 1861." This acceptance is not satisfactory. If General 
Butler accepts the 28th Regiment for his Division, it must be 
one of the two Regiments raised in Massachusetts as her 
quota of the six which were to be raised for his Division in 
New England ; and I wish to be informed as soon as possible 
whether General Buller will accept the 28th with this under- 
standing. 

The other propositions in yours are satisfactory. 

Respectfully yours, "VVM. SCHOULER, . . 

Adj't General. 



Headquarters Department of New England,) 
Boston, Nov. 11, 18C1. S 

Adjutant Gen'l Schouler: 

Sir- If the Governor will authorize two Regiments, 28th 
and 29th, to be organized by Gen'l Butler, with a veto power 
upon selection of Improper persons as officers, Gen'l Butler 
will accept the '28th as one of them;— this in answer to a 
communication of to-day to the Assistant Adjutant Gen'l, 
who is absent. 



■Very truly and rcsp'y yours. 



JOSEPH M. BELL, 
A. A. D. C. 



COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

Adjutant Generaf/s Office,) 
Boston, Nov. 11, 1861. > 

To Joseph M. Bell, Esq., Acting Aid de Camp to Major Gen'l 
Butler : 

Sir— Your letter of this date has been received ; the propo- 
sition is respectfully declined. 

Your ob't serv't, WM. SCHOULER, 

Adj't General. 



